


Hydrophilia

by moonchild1998



Series: Elemental Love [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, admittance of feelings, very very minor angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27141784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonchild1998/pseuds/moonchild1998
Summary: Zuko hated how much he loved water; it never made sense to him. Zuko groaned into his pillow on a Fire Nation ship after the caves of Ba Sing Se, cursing the spirits for drawing him to the sea. It was then that he understood then that it wasn't the water he had been drawn to; it was her.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Elemental Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944232
Comments: 4
Kudos: 83





	Hydrophilia

**Author's Note:**

> Not super obsessed with this one the way that I was about Pyrophilic, but it's still sappy and sweet. I've been very emotional about zutara recently so enjoy the softness :)

Zuko hated how much he loved water; it never made sense to him. How could he, crown prince of the Fire Nation, a firebender, feel more at home in the tides than he ever did around a fire? How could the feeling of the waves lapping against his ankles quell any of his worries? Why did his dreamings take him out to sea, where he would wade among the blue waves, staring up at wispy clouds? Who was he supposed to tell that the crashing sounds of the Ember Island beach filled his heart with an indescribable feeling of warmth like the fire that should fuel him but doesn't?

Maybe, Zuko thought, it had to do with his mother. She had always been fond of the shores of Ember Island and the turtleduck pond in the royal gardens. It was Ursa who took him down to the shipyards when his father was in a particularly bad mood to watch the ships being built. It was Ursa who told him the story of Umi and Kishi: two lovers who were not betrothed, for Kishi, was a prince, and Umi, was a lady of the sea. The lovers resorted that death was a fate better than a lifetime apart. Before their death, Kishi placed a kiss upon his beloved's lips claiming that a life without her kiss was not a life worth living. In the end, the spirits took pity on the lovers and turned Umi into the sea and Kishi to the shore so that Umi could kiss her lover every time the moon pulled the tide to shore. 

Maybe, and more likely, he thought, the spirits liked to torture him. Why else would his heart belong to the ocean when it should have belonged to fire? If his father knew how he felt about the water, he'd be flamed. He _was_ flamed and then sent on an impossible quest because his own father didn't want him; because the spirits liked to torture him.

The one saving grace of banishment was the time on the ocean. The ship was miserable and lonely, but he got to see the ocean turn from grey to blue as the foggy mornings burned off into salty afternoons. The sea breeze would bit at his face and sting his eyes, but Zuko didn't really mind. Out at sea, when no one was around him, he'd stare out into the night, at the moon, and wonder if somehow he was born into the wrong nation. If somehow the spirits had trapped a waterbender in a firebender's body. As far as torturous techniques went, Zuko had to admit it did the trick. 

"Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh would interrupt his nighttime ponderings. "It's not healthy for a young firebender to be up this late." Zuko would never respond. "The moon is quite beautiful, isn't it?" 

"Firebenders don't care about the moon, Uncle. We derive our power from the sun."

"True, but we need the moon too."

That would prove to be true a year later in the Northpole, but by that point, his world had been overturned by a pair of stormy blue eyes.

Zuko hated Katara; she was the enemy. She was what stood between him and his honor. Zuko hated how self-assured she was, how she never stood down from a fight, and how she could always beat him, even before she found a waterbending master. Most of all, though, Zuko hated the way he was entranced by her eyes.

The first time he met her, Zuko had been too furious, too enthralled in his own obsession with the Avatar to notice her. Back then, he still saw himself as the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and Katara was a Water Tribe peasant. It wasn't until he "rescued" her from the pirates and tied her to a tree to serve as bait that he got a good look at her sapphire eyes. They sent daggers of ice piercing through his heart, and he'd been unable to forget them.

He'd lay awake at night, wondering how, like the ocean, her eyes could go from storms to tranquil tides in a matter of moments. How, despite her hatred of him, he could feel empathy in the way her eyes studied him. Katara's eyes were unlike anything he'd ever seen in the Fire Nation. Fire Nation girls had eyes that ranged from grey to gold to brown, but not blue. Never blue. Zuko wondered if all Water Tribe's eyes looked like hers: like tsunamis raged behind them. Something told Zuko that couldn't be true. Katara's eyes didn't just resemble the tides; they were the sea. They pushed and pulled at the ocean in his heart and created tidal waves he couldn't survive. He'd drown in those eyes; he was sure of it

Zuko groaned into his pillow on a Fire Nation ship after the caves of Ba Sing Se, cursing the spirits for drawing him to the sea. It was then that he understood then that it wasn't the water he had been drawn to; it was her. The spirits did hate him. They'd cursed him, or maybe he'd been cursed from birth; his father certainly thought so. 

Zuko sighed, pulling Appa's reigns from Katara on the way back from confronting Yon Rha, begging her to get some rest. Zuko's chest tightened, seeing her curl up on the bison's saddle. She looked so small but so peaceful as she slept. The realization hit Zuko suddenly. Katara was his Umi, but he wasn't sure he was her Kishi. His track record convinced him that the spirits would not take pity on him the way they did the tidal lovers. 

Zuko came to terms with his love of the element at 16, when he took a bolt of lightning to his chest to protect Katara. It was then that he realized he would be tethered to the element, to her, forever. It wasn't romantic, he'd firmly decided; it felt more than that, as if his entire life he'd been destined to meet her, love her, protect her. She meant more to him than anyone ever had. He'd do anything to keep her, even as just a friend, even if that meant taking a thousand more bolts straight through the heart. 

Three years have passed since he had saved Katara. Three years as Fire Lord. Three years since the girl who's eyes he could swim in saved his life with the element he'd struggled to understand his obsession with. 

And now she was standing on his balcony in the pale moonlight, radiant. The spirits really did hate him. Why else would Katara have gotten more beautiful in the time they spent apart? She wasn't a teenager anymore, she was becoming a woman who was confident with unparalleled kindness, strong and self-assured, but her eyes hadn't changed. He'd barely been keeping his head above water, but now, he was reading to let the waves engulf him. 

"Are you sure it's alright that I'm here?" Katara asked, tucking a hair loopie behind her ear. 

"Of course, Katara. You know you're always welcome in the Fire Nation."

Katara giggled. "I know, Zuko. I meant _here_ , on your balcony, in the middle of the night." Zuko gave Katara a confused glance. She shrugged. "Palace staff like to gossip. I wouldn't want them to think I'm... wasting your _honor_ or something," Katara teased, elbowing his side softly.

Zuko bit back a snort. Katara grinned at him before letting her eyes slid back to the view. Zuko watched as her eyes flitted back and forth from the cityscape to the courtyard before finally resting there. She sighed. 

“Thinking about the Agni Kai?” 

“How’d you know?” She asked, eyes unmoving. 

“I can’t look at the courtyard without thinking about it.” 

“Does the scar give you any trouble?” Katara asked, now looking at him. 

Zuko shrugged, “Only when it rains.”

Katara placed her hand on his forearm and squeezed tightly. Gravity didn’t hold Zuko down anymore. The only thing keeping him anchored to the earth now was Katara's fingers digging softly into his milky skin. 

"Thank you for what you did then," Katara said so softly that Zuko had to guess what she said. Zuko turned to her with a soft, sad smile. 

"Again, I should be the one thanking you, but don't you think we should stop thanking each other? Look at how far we've come."

Katara shook her head. "I'm ever going to be done thanking you for that night, Zuko. You...I could've died. You _almost_ did, just to save me." 

Zuko thought to interrupt, to tell her he'd die one hundred times if it meant she'd be safe; if it meant she'd be happy. Katara's hand had trailed up his arm to grip the side of his shoulder. Any thoughts of interrupting her jumped over the balcony when her eyes, those damn eyes, met his. Zuko was pretty sure he'd stopped breathing when her lips quipped into the smallest smile. 

"I know you want to tell me it wasn't a big deal, but don't; don't you dare. It was a big deal to me. Zuko I..." Katara closed her eyes, seemingly searching her eyelids for the words that wouldn't reach her tongue. 

Instinctively, Zuko pulled Katara against him for a soft hug. Hugging Katara was always a slippery slope. He could never control himself from tightening the hug, inhaling her scent, and imaging a world where she was his. Katara sighed into his shoulder, holding her arms around his neck tightly. It almost felt like she was anchoring herself to him too. Zuko went to pull back, not wanting to make the hug last too long and make her uncomfortable, but she stopped him, staring back into his eyes.

Zuko gulped. Her eyes pierced him like they had the night with the pirates, but he didn't feel daggers in his heart this time; the sensation was much warmer. Before Zuko could ask what she was thinking about, Katara had placed her lips firmly onto his. He froze, then melted within seconds. His arms, which had been hanging around her middle from the hug, tightened, pulling her flush against his chest. Zuko was ready to relinquish control and sink in her tides, but something, reality, probably, stopped him. Zuko pulled back quickly, breaking off all contact with her body. 

“I can’t, Katara.”

“Oh," Katara frowned. 

“No, I mean, I want to. _Agni_ , you have no idea how much I want to, but I can’t be selfish with you.”

“Selfish?”

“I care about you so much, Kat. I’ve wanted that—this—for so long, longer than you could possibly know, but I just can’t give in to my feelings. I can't kiss you knowing that you’re kissing me because you feel like you owe me something for this,” Zuko said, placing his hand on the jagged scar concealed by his robes.

“I can’t be the knight in shining armor you think I am. I don't want to be that. I didn’t save you so that you would love me as I love you. Maybe you think this is a good way to repay me, but I don't need to be repaid. I can't give in to my feelings, knowing that if I have you once, I'll never let you go. I can't let you grow to resent me."

“Is that what you think this is?" Katara asked with a soft chuckle. She stepped forward as Zuko stepped back. He was not strong enough to restrain himself if she touched him. "Zuko, I didn’t kiss you to thank you. If that’s what this was, I would’ve kissed you that night. I mean, I wanted to kiss you that night. _Spirits_ , you have no idea how hard it was for me to not kiss you when you pulled me to bed that night, but that's not what this is, Zuko.

"I've never felt the way I do about you with anyone. Even before the Agni Kai, you somehow became one of my favorite people within a few days of me forgiving you. I felt drawn to you, safer around you, understood, and then you took that damned lighting bolt in the chest for me and I..."

Katara had closed the gap between them, squeezing herself against his chest again, and Zuko was drowning, sinking into the dark abyss.

"Zuko, you almost _died._ It didn't make me realize my feelings for you, but it made me realize that I could lose you. You always seemed so strong and constant like a flame, but I nearly saw it flicker out, and it scared me. Now every time I visit, it just gets harder to leave."

Zuko broke through the surface. The sea was no longer the angry storm it had been when he'd succumbed to it. It was tranquil and beautiful and promising. 

"So stay," Zuko whispered. She looked up at him, eyes brimming, but smiling brightly. She pushed her fingers into his hair and pulled him down for another breath-stealing kiss. Zuko's arms squeezed Katara into him. _She loves me._ Zuko's cheek stung, salty wet, but he couldn't be sure if it was his tears or hers.

Zuko was drowning, but he was okay with it. Hurricanes could rage above him. Waves could pull his body deeper. Tides could spit him onto a rugged shore, and he wouldn't care. He was drowning, but he was drowning in _her._

Zuko thought that if the spirits truly did hate him as he had thought he did, and fate should intervene and take Katara from him, that Kishi had the right idea. He, too, would rather die than not kiss this woman, this lady of the sea. 


End file.
